NevadansCAN proposes the construction of a public-private National Nuclear Recycling Plant near Yucca Mountain using a combination of private and federal funds and with access to some of the $40 Billion of accumulated other state funds to both transport and initiate recycling and selling of the output fuel products to current and future nuclear plants. This would modify the hundred-thousand-to-million-year storage plan costing many tens of billions to upgrade the Yucca Mountain Repository Laboratory.

We recommend that when a National Recycling Center is constructed and ready to begin accepting the spent fuel rods for recycling, that policies be set to follow an operating concept that returns the refurbished rods for use by originating and future nuclear power plants. This way, only the very small (estimated less than 3{4dbcca007145f141f20e946969c983518eb28ccc51b99ee288767f9853e910df} of the total material) quantities of unusable residue from the recycling processes will be stored for only a few decades in the Yucca Mountain storage facility.

This revised approach would eliminate future major construction costs inside the current YM facility since long-term storage will be avoided. Eventually it is anticipated even the small amount of residue from recycling will be available for retrieval and possibly consumed in advanced nuclear reactors within a few decades.

It could avoid wasting the estimated $100 billion currently proposed to expand Yucca Mountain into becoming a massive, million-year storage dump for otherwise 95{4dbcca007145f141f20e946969c983518eb28ccc51b99ee288767f9853e910df} recyclable/reusable nuclear materials. In the future, the costs of operating the National Recycling Plant and returning the new fuels to power plants might be funded through small customer rate fees in similar ways as the funds were accumulated in the past. This is one of the most reasonable ways to fund the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle.

Before the next century, advanced reactors should be so common and so efficient as to be able to totally consume the advanced fuels. Recycling might no longer be needed within a few decades.

Advocate for establishing a Nevada Carbon-Free National Laboratory partnered with Nevada Universities to (a) conduct RTD&E to develop plans for advanced nuclear fuel cycles and to (b) assist U.S. industry to identify best practices for implementing both fixed and mobile MicroGrids powered by Advanced Reactors and other Carbon-Free power generators.

Sponsor establishing a joint, public-private Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) Park on private and public land near Yucca Mountain to:

(a) encourage industries to sponsor advanced CFE development with system manufacturing conveniently and safely located near the source of nuclear fuel supplies,

(c) Sell and support turn-key, leased C-F power systems and lifetime support services to global customers,

(d) Install a Carbon-Free Energy Power Production Farm of SMR-powered MicroGrids to sell high volume Carbon-Free electricity over the Grid to Western States customers,

(e) Support establishing a National R&D Center of Excellence for EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) defenses and certification of systems effectiveness for MicroGrids and power generation systems, and

(f) Sponsor expansion of the Joint Hawthorne Army Depot to store and distribute Grid-Critical War Readiness Spare Parts and Emergency Repair/Restoration of Grid and power systems in support of both military and civilian emergencies.

Promote citizen-focused, Energy Choice power production capabilities using MicroGrid-based C-F power systems that enable city, rural, arctic, mountainous, and desert areas to independently implement industrial, habitable, mine-able, and farm-able power systems featuring:
(a) sealed against tampering,
(b) emission-free,
(c) walk-away-safe underground installations,
(d) requiring no external water for cooling, and
(e) commercially manufactured in 100{4dbcca007145f141f20e946969c983518eb28ccc51b99ee288767f9853e910df} safe production line facilities along the I-95 highway corridor near Yucca Mountain in Nye County.

NEGOTIATE STRONGLY FOR NEVADA & U.S. USING COMMON SENSE

We believe the above unique combination of program elements could create a compelling national vision for a common sense approach to negotiating use of the $40+ Billion of DOE funds to be wisely spent on unmet national energy needs to:

(a) Use the large, unused desert areas on the former nuclear test site near Yucca Mountain for a nuclear materials recycling plant and upgrade the unrealistic and unaffordable, million-year storage plan,

(b) Help enable implementation of MicroGrids powered by small, Advanced Reactors to produce abundant, affordable, assured, secure, independent, unrefueled for up to 30 years that can provide uninterruptible quantities of electricity, purified water, and facility heat for both inhabited and isolated locations,

(e) Support expansion of the Hawthorne, Nevada Army Depot mission to include hosting a National Grid EMP Center of Excellence, and to become the Joint National Depot for resupply of unique, Grid War Readiness spare parts and emergency Grid restoration capabilities.

These actions could establish the Nevada Nuclear Security Site as the U.S. Carbon-Free Energy Center with a new DHS/DOE/DoD mission for working with industry to become capable of responding to emergency power losses with “walk-away-safe”, mobile, MicroGrid systems powered by micro-nuclear reactors for responding to urgent military deployments, earthquakes, weather disasters, EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) disasters, cyber war attacks and acts of terrorism.